SteamOS, the Valve-made Linux distribution that was originally for the failed Steam Machine initiative has gradually vanished into the sidelines but it seems it won't be forever.
A while ago, we did see indications that Valve would work on SteamOS 3.0 "Clockwerk" back in 2018 but they've still been very quiet on it since apart from a few minor package updates to SteamOS 2 "Brewmaster".
Valve have been extremely active on other fronts though of course. As a quick bit of history: for Linux they put out Steam Play Proton, the ACO shader compiler for AMD, this new Steam Linux Runtime container system, the micro-compositor Gamescope and there's more with people working on all sorts under contract for Valve to improve Linux.
Still, SteamOS though, what are Valve going to do with it? Sounds like when they go back to it eventually, it might not be Debian-based. In a GitHub issue on the SteamOS page about it "languishing", another user replied with an email from Valve developer Pierre-Loup A. Griffais:
Yes, definitely lots of work still going on. Right now the focus is on core technology itself rather than distributing it, but we intend to get back to that in the future. I wouldn't expect much more movement on Debian-based Brewmaster at this point, however.
"Debian-based Brewmaster"—huh? Speculation here, but that sounds like they might be looking at a different base for whatever SteamOS 3.0 turns into.
One day then, we can clearly expect to see some movement on SteamOS once Valve get all the pieces of the Linux gaming puzzle into a state where they're truly happy with properly pushing it again. Perhaps, this will be after we finally find out what the heck Steam Cloud Gaming(#1, #2) turns out to be? Whenever we find out, we will of course let you know.
Thanks for the tag, mdeguzis.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Mohandevir Mar 26, 2020
Quoting: HoriQuoting: MohandevirI don't expect there to be too many people that do that. People would prefer using 1 TV remote instead of two, or instead of a gamepad. It's also that most people don't even know about TV boxes.Quoting: HoriQuoting: AllocHaving a full-featured open source "console" desktop from Steam would be cool imo. So not only Steam's BPM but something that resembles consoles more. Supporting streaming services in the interface (Amazon, Netflix, Spotify etc ...), playing videos from the local network, maybe support for Plex. So that you could really use that thing as a TV box and not have to hop around different interfaces for everything but games. Maybe they'll get there ...
Either way I wouldn't care about the underlying distribution ... the SteamOS thing (for me) should just work as-is, I wouldn't use that for desktops anyway.
I never understand why people want Netflix and other apps like that in Steam / consoles... don't their TVs already have those apps? Why would you fire up your pc/console just to watch a movie when you can do it straight from the TV, using the TV remote instead of a gamepad?
The thing is, many Smart-TVs are highly insecure with far and few between security updates, if ever. For this reason, I avoid using them, as much as possible, and replace the "smart" part by a TV-Box that gets maintained regularly.
IDK personally I think TV boxes are very useful in the context of non-smart TVs, or TVs that are very outdated (e.g. early smart TVs from a few years ago that have very old Android versions).
On the other hand, I kind of dislike TV Boxes because they use Android, and I find it to be a terrible and very buggy TV OS. (However they do have a lot more apps than others)
___
Also, for example, if you use the TV's YouTube, you don't have to worry about the game not supporting "alt-tabbing", as your game never really looses focus from your PC's perspective. But I don't expect this to be a real problem, since the majority of people don't play old games, and modern ones, and even many old ones, alt-tab just fine.
You don't need to convince me of the conviviality of using a SmartTV or the popularity of my idea. You wanted to know why people are asking for such features on SteamOS, I provided you with one exemple. It would probably be a lot more secure on SteamOS than any unmaintained SmartTV, like it or not. There are many other reasons to ask for these features too. Why flat out deny them when you may get the same features out of an Xbox one or PS4?
We have to keep in mind that SteamOS is not a desktop OS, it's targeted for consoles devices/uses. For my part, it should be minimally on par, feature wise, to any other consoles on the market which it strives to compete with.
Edit: Really amusing that this news gets out today...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2020/03/26/plasma-bigscreen-is-a-new-smart-tv-experience-powered-by-raspberry-pi-4-and-kde/#27fc39433465
Personnally I would be willing to try this on my computer, along with Steam.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 26 March 2020 at 3:21 pm UTC
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BrazilianGamer Mar 26, 2020
Debian is the market standard. All applications target primarily Ubuntu or any other Debian based distros. It would be like going against the normal industry flow if Valve used any arch or Red hat(Cent OS) based distributions. Let's see. Well, Canonical has given some reasons for them to ditch Ubuntu in favor of other distros I have to admit. Time will tell
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Besides the issue of no security updates on SmartTVs it's also simply an issue of not getting new apps either. Our Panasonic will probably never support Disney+ as an example (actually I think it never received *any* updates for any part of it since we got it like 5 years ago ...).
I consider SmartTVs to be similar to iMacs. While it's nice in the beginning to have a good working combination (and thus integration of both parts) of the content provider and the display unit after some time you got an outdated content provider but the display unit will be just fine for years. So screens are one thing where I don't want anything else to be integrated. Just give me proper interfaces to the outside (A/V) and that's it.
Last edited by Alloc on 26 March 2020 at 3:51 pm UTC
I consider SmartTVs to be similar to iMacs. While it's nice in the beginning to have a good working combination (and thus integration of both parts) of the content provider and the display unit after some time you got an outdated content provider but the display unit will be just fine for years. So screens are one thing where I don't want anything else to be integrated. Just give me proper interfaces to the outside (A/V) and that's it.
Last edited by Alloc on 26 March 2020 at 3:51 pm UTC
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Quoting: BrazilianGamerDebian is the market standard.
What market are you talking about? Red Hat is the industry standard and has been for a long time. IBM didn't buy them for no good reason. :P
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slaapliedje Mar 26, 2020
Quoting: miroI hope they don't intend to switch away from linux at all, when referring to away from `Debian-based Brewmaster`Debian doesn't have a lack of Kodi, you just need to add the deb-multimedia.org repo. And they keep it up to date as well.
That would not make sense at all, considering the efforts. I moved away from steamOS myself, but the only reason for this was because it is stuck with old software and the lack of e.g. Kodi
https://www.deb-multimedia.org/
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slaapliedje Mar 26, 2020
Quoting: WorMzyRed Hat is indeed the industry standard... for enterprise level stuff. It's crap for home users. But that's not what it's intention is by a long shot!Quoting: BrazilianGamerDebian is the market standard.
What market are you talking about? Red Hat is the industry standard and has been for a long time. IBM didn't buy them for no good reason. :P
It is even a decent workstation, but I still prefer Debian and it's derivatives as they package just about everything under the sun, and software is just an 'apt install' away.
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slaapliedje Mar 26, 2020
Quoting: AllocBesides the issue of no security updates on SmartTVs it's also simply an issue of not getting new apps either. Our Panasonic will probably never support Disney+ as an example (actually I think it never received *any* updates for any part of it since we got it like 5 years ago ...).
I consider SmartTVs to be similar to iMacs. While it's nice in the beginning to have a good working combination (and thus integration of both parts) of the content provider and the display unit after some time you got an outdated content provider but the display unit will be just fine for years. So screens are one thing where I don't want anything else to be integrated. Just give me proper interfaces to the outside (A/V) and that's it.
So far as I've seen with my LG WebOS TV, it's actually pretty decent in getting updates, and did get the Disney+ app. Thanks for reminding me, I need to cancel that... haha
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Quoting: WorMzyWelllll . . . certainly I get the impression that if someone in industry is going to pay for something Linux, it will be Red Hat. It's the Enterprise Linux Solution; suits buy it and its support contracts. But I also get the impression that if someone in industry is just going to get a server or something up and running to do a task which is not a big formal rollout with a ton of money involved, it is more likely to be Debian.Quoting: BrazilianGamerDebian is the market standard.
What market are you talking about? Red Hat is the industry standard and has been for a long time. IBM didn't buy them for no good reason. :P
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BrazilianGamer Mar 26, 2020
Quoting: WorMzyQuoting: BrazilianGamerDebian is the market standard.
What market are you talking about? Red Hat is the industry standard and has been for a long time. IBM didn't buy them for no good reason. :P
If you read my comment again, you'll see I was talking about applications. Not hegemony in servers. In servers there's no doubt Red hat wins by a landslide. But still, when companies or individuals think about creating any application, the first distro they know they have to support is Ubuntu or any other debian based distros in general. Simply because they are the most used therefore, popular and of course, there's a bigger chance of revenue if it is a paid software or just to have a bigger userbase.
Last edited by BrazilianGamer on 27 March 2020 at 3:15 am UTC
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slaapliedje Mar 27, 2020
Quoting: BrazilianGamerThe crap thing about that is Ubuntu trying to move away from Debian packages, and instead to adopt their own Snap package management. I get that Ubuntu wants to try to make themselves special, but all that does is make them less stable, and less wanted. So many developers in the past have made excuses not to support Linux because of all the variations, but for years it has basically been Debian+RPM based systems. Any of the other distributions have people smart enough to convert packages from deb/rpm. But then Red Hat comes out with Flatpak, that everyone adopts... except Ubuntu, who decides to push snap...Quoting: WorMzyQuoting: BrazilianGamerDebian is the market standard.
What market are you talking about? Red Hat is the industry standard and has been for a long time. IBM didn't buy them for no good reason. :P
If you read my comment again, you'll see I was talking about applications. Not hegemony in servers. In servers there's no doubt Red hat wins in a landslide. But still, when companies or individuals think about creating any application, the first distro they know they have to support is Ubuntu or any other debian based distros in general. Simply because they are the most used therefore, popular and of course, there's a bigger chance of revenue if it is a paid software or just to have a bigger userbase.
Sorry, rant over. We will see how much the next few Ubuntu releases screw the pooch.
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